Henry Silva, Sports Reporter
@hsilva2532
In a drastic move that redefined Connecticut high school basketball, the CIAC committee added two new rules before this season. The first was a 35 second shot clock, and the second was the addition of the bonus rule. Now with the season coming to an end, what impact have these new rules had on girls and boys high school basketball?
With the addition of the shot clock, the CIAC looked to increase scoring and pace of play. Head coach of the boys basketball team, Danny Melzer, highlighted how the change is beneficial for the players. “The shot clock makes for a better, cleaner, game that helps prepare kids to play in college,” he said.
The new shot clock gives each team 35 seconds once the offensive possession is started, meaning that teams cannot hold the ball to drain the clock. Though the boys team has not committed many shot clock violations, senior captain of the boys basketball team Griffin Bramwit has noticed a decreasing overall quality of play. “The game is faster,” he said. “The shot clock has actually made shot selection worse, but that’s to be expected if you have less time to shoot.”
Coach Melzer seems to disagree. “I thought that the shot clock would have helped us last year. We were extremely patient and I think we passed up a lot of good shots,” he said. This year, with the new rule, Coach Melzer said that he has liked the aggressiveness of his players and the increase in points on the board.
The new bonus rule awards each team two free throws for every common foul after the team’s fifth in a quarter. This counter resets at the end of each quarter. This is a change from the previous one and one rule, which was based on fouls per half.
These new rules bring new strategies to the game. “We try to play as aggressive on defense as we can,” Griffin said. “In late game situations, if a team is close to shooting in the bonus, we will either reserve our fouls or intentionally foul. This depends on whether we need a defensive stop or need to stop the clock via fouling.”
With fouling becoming a larger part of the game, players are able to get to the free throw line for more chances at easy points. Senior captain of the girls basketball team, Tia Kivikko, loves these easy buckets. “The new bonus rule has been great because it gives you more opportunities to get to the line,” Tia said. “Overall, I think the addition has been beneficial and good for the game.”
A third rule was added this year as well allowing coaches to condition together over the summer for no more than 2 hours a week. With the addition of this, team chemistry and camaraderie were able to be developed early leading to better success on the court. With scoring this year higher than in years past, the Rams have loved this extra work which better prepared them for this past season.
